HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Re: At this point in our discussion,

"What ... inoculates [people] against creeping tyranny from the state"
mcfly — (archived)

Perhaps it's partly because the democratic experience has been, for the most part, of relatively benign government. For most of us, an elected government at it's worst is usually not much more than an irritation.

And I still think there's some basic faith in the premise that a politician's primary job is to represent us, to be our voice in the larger community. To watch out for us.

And governments have a face. They can be identified with individuals, whether it be the President or some guy behind a counter at city hall.

Corporations, otoh, are most typically identified with things, not people (even though we all know corporations are people). Ford is about cars, Dell about computers, etc.

Sometimes we find out that the politician is a corrupt, self-serving bastard who'd happily throw us under the bus, and the corporate billionaire turns out to be a philanthropist of truly breathtaking vision and generosity. Sometimes we remember that Ford and Dell are really about thousands and thousands of jobs: people giving some of their time to the company in return for the means to sustain their family (which, all in all, ain't the worst deal).

But faith, being what it is, is a hard thing to shake.

Just offering some thoughts on your question...

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